


To New Beginnings

by iwaizumemes (skytramp)



Series: Haikyuu RarePair Week 2015 [1]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alcohol, Canon Compliant, Ch.147 game spoilers, F/M, HQ Rarepair Week
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-09
Updated: 2015-03-09
Packaged: 2018-03-17 02:26:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,158
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3511778
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/skytramp/pseuds/iwaizumemes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ukai finally put his team to bed and stepped outside for a celebratory cigarette to find Tanaka Saeko having her own celebration. </p><p>  <b>hq rarepair week Day 1: Beginnings/Celebration</b></p>
            </blockquote>





	To New Beginnings

“Lights out boys, we’ve got a game tomorrow. Not time to celebrate yet.” Ukai called across the already dark room. That match felt like it had lasted for hours, a legendary struggle between Seijoh and his Crows. When that last shot had gone wide off their setter’s arms Ukai felt like he might just faint. How the boys had enough energy left to beg to go out and celebrate he had no idea. 

He shut the door behind him and walked down the hall. He listened by the door to Kiyoko and Yachi’s room, making sure his managers were winding down for sleep as well before heading outside for a cigarette. The Inn they’d rented space in had a small courtyard, not much, just a tree, a small pond and a paved path around the edges. As he slid the door open he saw a figure seated on the edge of the path with their back to him. She looked back as she heard the door open.

“Hey coach, wanna beer?” It was Tanaka’s sister, Saeko. She was still wearing her leather jacket and Ukai envied her the warmth it must provide. The night was chilly. 

“Sure, if you’re willing to spare one.” He replied, pulling out his pack of cigarettes and knocking it against his palm to dislodge one. With his smoke firmly between his lips he took the bottle Saeko held out to him. He offered the pack towards her.

“No thanks, I already set a bad enough example for Ryuu, can’t take up smoking, too.” She laughed and Ukai thought it sounded nice. It was loud, maybe too loud for how late it was, but it fit her perfectly. He stashed his pack and twisted the top off the beer. He sat down next to her and crossed his legs.

“Tanaka was good today. He’s bound to be next year’s ace. You should be proud of him.” Ukai said.

“I’m always proud of him.” She said as she took a long swig of her beer, finishing the bottle. “Somebody’s gotta be.” 

The last part was said quieter, and Ukai thought maybe he wasn’t meant to hear it, or she hadn’t meant to say it out loud. They sat in silence as she opened another beer from the six pack beside her and he finished his cigarette. Her face and hair seemed to glow in the moonlight when he glanced over at her and he realized he’d never really considered how attractive she was before. 

“So, what do you do?” He asked her.

“This and that. Been workin’ retail the last year or so. It ain’t bad really, but being the designated chauffeur for some of your volleyball brats is a hell of a lot more fun.” She laughed, “What about you, just volleyball all the time?”

“Hell no,” he answered, “I’d end up dead in a week if I spent all my time with these idiots.” He swallowed the last of his beer and she handed him a second. “I work up at the foothill store, it’s my mom’s place, and in harvest season I work on the fava bean farms too.” 

“Busy man.” she said simply, “It was a good game, by the way, probably the best I’ve seen. I bet if I cared about it when I was in school I might have seen better, those were the years that hero of Hinata’s played but sports weren’t really my thing back then.”

“Yeah, probably. It was after my time but my grandpa was still coaching and I heard all about it.”

“How old are you anyway? I figured we weren’t in school together or I’d’ve remembered you.” He wasn’t sure what that meant, he wasn’t a particularly memorable person. He would have remembered her though, certainly. And if she was in the Small Giant’s class that put her at just around 21. _Not too young_ , he thought.

“Twenty-six. You?”

“Wow, old man, never would’ve guessed.” She laughed into the mouth of her beer bottle before finishing it with a gulp. “I’m twenty-one.”

“Yeah, yeah, get off my lawn. I get enough of the old man jokes from the team, thank you very much.” She punched him in the shoulder lightly and he almost choked on his beer.

“You want another? I’ve got one left for each of us, though I consider myself a two-beer girl I’d be willing to drink a third tonight. We’re celebrating after all.”

He smiled, “Oh, is that what this is? I guess it is. Sure, let’s make a party out of it.” He took the last beer she handed, setting it next to his leg before trying to finish the one in his other hand. “And I wouldn’t have guessed you were a two beer girl, maybe a two whiskey girl.”

She scoffed in mock offense before punching him lightly again. “I’m here as Ryuu’s guardian, I gotta be responsible, so do you, _Coach_.”

“Nah, that’s Takeda’s job. He’s the advisor, I’m just here for my looks.” He laughed at his own joke. Normally he wasn’t so bold, but for some reason two beers made him just tipsy enough to try and flirt.

“Oh,” She laughed, “Well, then, that’s a different story.” the way she smiled at him made him want to melt, or maybe kiss her, but he couldn’t let himself do that.

He opened his final beer and took a swig. “It’s a pretty nice night.” He says.

“Talking about the weather, now? And I thought things were just getting fun.” She said, this time bumping her shoulder roughly against his. She sat a little closer now and her shoulder rubbed against his seemingly by accident.

He felt his face get warm and he didn’t know what to say. 

“Weather can be fun, but ‘nice night’ can mean anything, it didn’t have to mean the weather.” He thought himself pretty clever for coming up with that excuse so quickly. Truthfully, he had been talking about the weather but her response made him doubt everything he was saying. She put him so off balance.

“Oh, ho ho, smooth one, Coach.” It sounded like she had heard through his excuse and he didn’t feel so clever anymore. The beer was starting to get to his head and he wasn’t sure he was even capable of being clever. 

“Yeah, yeah, I meant it’s nice talking to a pretty girl and drinking beer. Is that what you want to hear?” He spoke recklessly now and took a big gulp of his beer.

She laughed again, “Only if that’s what you want to say.”

“It’s what I want to say.”

“Good.”

She held up her beer, peering at it in the moonlight as if trying to see how much remained in the bottle. Before holding it towards him in a mock toast. He mirrored the gesture, clinking the necks of their bottles together. 

“To Karasuno.” She said.

“To Karasuno.” He repeated.


End file.
